


crazy stupid lovely kinds of things

by guide_to_the_galaxy



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Mind you leo is a dork, Space Pirates AU, The space au we all need
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2017-06-08
Packaged: 2018-11-11 10:38:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11146704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/guide_to_the_galaxy/pseuds/guide_to_the_galaxy
Summary: Leo didn't expect to get to make a bet, get punched, steal a sword or start a minor intergalactic war. But some things are purely accidental. Other things, like coming across the one person you've been avoiding (missing, loving, wanting to get to know better?) since forever, may be by design.





	crazy stupid lovely kinds of things

**Author's Note:**

> Loosely based off of the Space Arc. Loosely based off of my bud, Spectrum's, AU. For tmnt flashfic theme: intergalactic enjoy Leo being the dork we all know and love, running away from the samurai rabbit we (including Leo) also know and love!

The first time he met Usagi, they were stationed on the edge of Eris, on the fourth quadrant of the fifty-seventh sector when Leo felt the familiar warmth- like an overabundance of something that could have been either love at the very first glance, enraptured astonishment or amazing intimidation- or maybe it was just all three incredible feelings at once.

Leonardo could not decipher it all that much at the time,  but when the samurai came to the outskirts of the village, riding a beast with six legs, and flashed a smile warmer that the breeze that carried the fields, Leo promptly declared himself screwed.

* * *

 

_One Selzig Later_

> _**Sector 45** _

> _**Eros District 18** _

 

Leo had officially told the universe that he was done with love; his first love ever, Space Heroes, let him down after he realized that there was no such thing as a perfect leader, and that if you slap your crew enough times you might wake up abandoned on some far flung planet, outside of any known solar system.

And then there was the samurai of _Edo,_ the village of  _Eris_ in the district of  _Eros-_  and then there was, again, that same samurai in the Nexus. And then Leo started feeling all kinds of strange things.  _And then_  he ran as far as he  _could_ from those feelings, dreading fate and the inevitable reunion it would bring because he was _just that unlucky._

 

Or maybe he was too lucky, and just can’t comprehend _how_  the universe thought he deserved something a little bit greater than his family. 

 

But when Leo gives himself enough time to think about it, it never did start with love or fate or even the universe. It all  _really_  started with a triple dog dare and a battle in the sector forty-five, another nine or ten or so sectors from the seventh moon of  _Eris._ Seven days and nights they fought, firing lasers and cannons and whatever willpower and cockiness could buy the Ulysses crew, maybe some time to finesse themselves back to a less hostile quadrant-  _wherever_ that may be. And so the blasts lit up the planets surrounding them like fireworks for times uncounted as they took on  _Hytashi_  samurai’s and  _Gryllian_ pirates from the darker worlds that sat furthest from the _R’Zas_ star.

It was around the second rotation of some planet or another that Leonardo realized drunken bets were taken very, very seriously in this district and that trying to steal a pink laser sword with flowers growing up the sides for the only samarai that could best him in heart and mind and skill was cause for all out, galactic war. But Leo already might have known that, if he wasn’t drunk out of his mind (drunk out of his mind translates to two shots from a tavern in Lithr because leo, famously, did not drink) and if he was able to resist the power of a triple dog dare.

_(we interrupt this terribly awful tale for the poor souls who didn’t know: triple dog dares, contrary to the average double dog dare, are actual weapons of mass destruction; it is universally known, even, that a triple dog dare is nothing to be taken lightly and practically held the power of like, seven suns or something like that. he or she or anyone who was neither he nor she who dared to defy the laws of daring would be cursed)_

At least, that was how Mikey put it, theatrical and stupidly convincing to a two a.m Leonardo who had been sleep deprived, and a little too eager for another adventure. And then there was a gap in time between the two shots of  _Lithrian_ whiskey, Donnie and Casey becoming a blur past him,  him making a bet, losing said bet, getting punched in the face, stealing a flora laser sword, calling Usagi for help and starting a (minor) war.

So now he’s here, wishing he was probably somewhere else, feeling fourteen again.

A glider rushes past his ears, sending smoke through the stars, and Leo vaguely catches the look Raph and April give him from the lower deck of the Ulysses.

“What?!” he shouts over an explosion and the far off cackling of Donnie somewhere on the other side of their ship.

 April scoffs, her body getting lost in the fray of pirates; she breaks a few necks, shoots some heads and straightens herself out, still managing to look 100% done.

“You just had to tick them off and raid their arsenal for your boyfriend-” she aims her blaster out at her side, eyes narrowing harder on Leo, “I _hope_  you get your cocky ass handed to you!” 

Raph grunts in agreement but can’t manage to add to it after he gets pulled overboard into open space. The battle looks very well won already; a few burning ships and dead men later, anyway.

 

Then the only lights around are the sparks and their victory raging on-

-and a single ship in the distance unscathed and so gloriously huge it makes Leo’s inner Space Heroes complex wet itself just a little bit.

And its captain, stoically standing near the ship’s planks, breaks his stance and offers a cordial smile, biting down on a dirt covered carrot.

* * *

> **World Border Eris**

>   **Eris District 6**

>   **The City of Floating Rock**
> 
>  

Leo tilts his head back, feeling the cool concrete against his skin, staring dazedly into the bright neon red bars blocking him from getting _out_  of here and from control and from his  _family_ \- the family who he vaguely remembers also getting arrested by the carrot eating captain that also happened to be Usagi, who also happened to be the one thing Leonardo had been avoiding (missing) since the Nexus Battles.  

Everything about last night is fuzzy and there’s missing pieces in his puzzle of time and happenings and his head buzzes at the memory. He hates not remembering; he’s had enough of that, actually.

“This’s going to look really bad on my record…” Leo says, into the emptiness of his cell, because he likes to believe that all the other charges and bounties on him mean absolutely nothing, virtually nonexistent because he’s _doing good_ and he’s not his family who embrace the dangerous, recklessly fulfilling life of being outlawed space pirates. They could  _afford_  that, but Leonardo knew somewhere unspoken that he couldn’t. His family  _needs_  him.

Wherever they are.

Maybe the worst part about all of this- this life they’re barreling their way through one captured territory at a time- is that all Leo wants to do is save and rescue and liberate and  _be the good_  in everything that _wasn’t._ Because all he knows is _Maltera_ and the nineteen _Calderan_ children and their screams and the look on his enemies’ faces when they knew his only weakness was that want: the want to protect.

His brothers- April, Casey- they all wanted him to let that go, and maybe that’s why they treated him to the tavern in  _Lithr_ district 18 and why he took whatever Case gave him and got  _drunk_  for the first time. Because maybe forgetting was better some days, when remembering hurt really, really bad. He didn’t know; Leo wishes he did, as his eyes get lost in the neon lights of the bars that blend with the dull glow of his damaged suit.

“Think, Leo: what would Captain Ryan do?” he says quietly, looking down at his hands and then around the confinement cell he was stuck in. Nice scenery. For a holding cell.

His eyes dance around the space, and the little pamphlet by his feet.

_Eris! The Planet of a Thousand Worlds!_  it read in Valderian, the common language spoken in sectors forty through sixty-two. Mikey spoke it best. He picked up on that kind of stuff fast.

Leo’s wondering how many of those worlds he wants to see before he’s executed when a shadow appears at the front of his cell. Usagi kneels before him and stares into Leonardo’s eyes. He squints and tilts his head and part of Leo thinks he’s almost as good at intimidation as Leo and his crew can be. He’d fit right in.

If they weren’t his captives on a ship hovering past a floating city. If Leo didn’t probably screw things up. 

Then the rabbit samurai captain that also happens to be the guy Leo met in the Nexus and kinda sorta might want to get to know better but is way to terrified to(?) smiles in such good nature Leo fears he’ll kill him now ironically. This has to be a let down from the last time they saw each other, when they promised to find one another again.

But he doesn’t, extending a hand instead that sends the neon bars dissolving. Leonardo sees his own astonishment in the eyes of Usagi who chuckles, his face uncomfortably close to Leo’s.

“I know,” he says softly, eyes darting down the hall, “I believe your crew member called it ‘awesome’. I do not know…I call it unnecessary. But I am only sent aboard this ship to retrieve your crew, not to dispute.” Usagi shrugs, his armor hefting, sword scraping the metallic floors beneath them.

The hallway is mostly quiet, a soft buzzing from the other cells trickles into the atmosphere and, by far, this is the most peaceful capture the Ulysses has ever had.

“I did not anticipate your call…or that you would be so…” the words fall away from Usagi, his lips twisting.

Clearing his throat, Leonardo rises to his feet, feeling very hungover and a little irritated at that strange way his heart’s beating, “I’m not…Well, I don’t usually…”

“Almost start war- or drink?” Usagi stands too, stepping into the cell, and he’s so calm and even that of all the things to feel Leonardo can only steady himself too.

“Both…o-or neither. It was a dare- which is dumb- but then there was the  _sword-”_

“…I saw it,” Usagi grins, a mixture of bridled excitement and amusement, that falls the minute it came, “Flora’s are expensive, Leonardo…and that- stealing? I’d like to think you wouldn’t have to do that just to visit _Edo._ I’ve sent you letters…”

Leo listens to the hum of the other cell bars for a moment, and then, scratching at the ripped patch on his suit, he looks over at Usagi with something close to humiliation, “So what’s our charge?”

Usagi sighs, hand running over his ear, “The Daimyo will be most disappointed at this…” he mumbles, looking over at Leonardo, “No ships are allowed to pass into this sector without clearance. It is for the protection of the Daimyo’s son-”

“I assure you this is a huge misunderstanding,” Leo interjects trying to keep this professional, fumbling over his words, pulling out what he can from a hazy mind, “On my honor, Usagi-San…the Ulysses wouldn’t bring harm to Eris…we just…we were passing through.”

Ships pass out the window, brushing the rocks, catching the Usagi’s dark eyes for a moment before they meet Leonardo’s, “I apologize…the Daimyo- he will decide your fate. I can only lead you to the next holding cell in Edo, I’m afraid. I hate that we had to meet under these circumstances, Leonardo…I did not know you had bounties on your head, let alone a record- until Gen told me.”

Through his indignation, Usagi manages to smile.

Leo takes a deep breath and pushes it through his nostrils, grinning back, “I’m sorry to disappoint.”

“You should be, Leonardo-San…I could have left you and your crew to the pirates,” Usagi shoots back, eyes dropping to the floor, “And I imagined you dead- all of  _Edo_  did when you did not return my letters.”

“I was in a tough spot,” Leo says in a weak defense, “We were hiding out for a while until-”

“You will be  _lucky-”_ Usagi cuts in because okay, he has every  _right_  to be pissed and maybe Leo’s a little messed up right now and is so not handling this trauma thing right but that’s okay (no it’s not), _“-_ if the Daimyo withholds punishment from you- I would not, if you were wondering.”

But maybe it is okay.

“Hey…” Leo moves in close, and refrains from pulling Usagi any closer, letting his hand hover instead near him, “I’m not dead, Usagi…I’m right here. Somehow in one piece, too.” 

He gives a signature, toothy smile like it was the first time they met. When Leo was younger and slightly less stupid. 

“Yes,” Usagi mumbles stubbornly, “In a holding cell. Alone.”

And Leo wants to tell Usagi to stay, but that would be uncalled for, circumstances as they are, anyway; and he doesn’t think to move either, until Usagi pulls him in, pressing against Leo tightly. In the morning, Donnie will probably find a way out of here before they even get their sentence- odds are they’ll hear it when this quadrant does, on the jumbo screens between checkpoints and space stations, which means they’ll have to hide out till it dies down, run off and repeat. But Leo knows he can  _never_  replace this, this quiet thing etched into his memory, as Usagi buries his face into the collar of his worn out space suit.

Somewhere on the ship alarms blare and Leo hears Mikey laughing, and he hugs back tighter, “Be careful…” he murmurs, pulling away, “I’ll come back…the right way. When I’m better.”

He breaks away, running to catch up with Donnie and Casey, and promises he’ll write a letter back one day. 

 

And maybe, eventually, do a little more than that.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave comments, kudos or hits! I hope you enjoyed my first piece uploaded on here...follow for more!


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